Cloud computing is the use of computing resources (hardware and software) that are available in a remote location and accessible over a network, such as the Internet. In a computing environment with many computing devices, such as a virtual server or cloud computing environment with many server computers, the use of computing resources can provide a number of advantages including cost advantages and/or the ability to adapt rapidly to changing computing resource needs. Therefore, the computing resources, such as the host server computers, in the cloud computing environment need to be configured optimally. However, configuration of computing resources in the cloud environment can be challenging.
For example, some cloud computing or virtual server environments provide a limited number of pre-defined categories of computing resources for customer selection, but with little or no possibility for tenant customizations. Additionally, while it is desirable for tenants to reserve and configure computing resource capacity for future need, it is also desirable that such reserved computing resource capacity is utilized efficiently so as to maximize profitability and tenant/customer satisfaction.